Error "The issuer certificate of a locally looked up certificate could not be found. No certificates could be verified" When Connecting to Tableau Server from Tableau Desktop on a Mac

Published: 08 Jan 2018Last Modified Date: 27 Jul 2018

Issue

When connecting a Tableau Server instance which uses SSL, from Tableau Desktop on a Mac machine, an error may occur reading:

"Cannot connect to Tableau Server. Please check the server name and port and try again.The issuer certificate of a locally looked up certificate could not be found.No certificates could be verified"

Environment

Tableau Desktop

Tableau Server

Mac

Resolution

The full certificate chain must be placed in the Tableau Server configuration, in the SSL tab.

The full certificate chain must also be installed on the Mac machine on which Tableau Desktop is installed.

For detailed instructions, please expand the section below...

​Tableau Server:

Confirm that a certificate chain file exists at all. This would be in the directory where the server's SSL certificates are kept, as a .crt file. If not certain it is possible to create a certificate chain file:

Review the "Certification Path" tab of your certificate file, and make note of all the certificates in the chain. Find their respective files, and open them in a text editor (Notepad, Sublime, Notepad++)

Consolidate them into a single file using copy and paste, in which the certificates follow one another in the following format:

Copy and paste the certificate file's text contents into the text box for "Generate the Correct Chain"

Select "Include Root Certificate", then "Generate"

You will receive a shiny new .crt file that contains all certificates in the chain.

Once you have confirmed that the certificate chain is present, launch command prompt from the /bin/ directory of your Tableau Server as administrator, and run the command "tabadmin stop"

When the Tableau Server has stopped, launch the Tableau Server Configuration UI

In the SSL tab, under "Certificate chain file", browse and select the .crt file for your certificate chain.

Click "OK" and wait for configuration to complete.

In command prompt, run "tabadmin config", followed by "tabadmin start" to make sure that the configuration changes are applied, and that Tableau Server is started back up.

Tableau Desktop on the Mac

The Tableau Server administrator going through the above steps should be able to provide the certificate chain file, or it can be acquired from the Tableau Server URL via a browser.

Double-click the certificate file, or drag it to the Keychain Access icon. Add the certificate to the System keychain when prompted, then enter credentials.

In the certificate keychain tool, click on the certificate chain and select "Get Info".

Work with your internal IT team to ensure the correct level of trust for the certificate is set.

Cause

Even though the Tableau Server Configuration UI says the certificate chain file is "optional", this is not the case for Mac machines. Windows machines are able to download and install the certificate chain automatically, whereas Mac machines need to have that information explicitly present in order for SSL to work.
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